Spitfire WWII Fighter Planes In Myanmar Excavation Could Flood Vintage Plane Market

marcsignal

Pretty bizarre article

YANGON, Myanmar — As many as 140 World War II Spitfire fighter planes – three to four times the number of airworthy models known to exist – are believed to be buried in near-pristine condition in Myanmar. A British-Myanmar partnership says it will begin digging them up by the end of the month.

The go-ahead for excavation came earlier this week when the Myanmar government signed an agreement with British aviation enthusiast David J. Cundall and his local partner. Cundall, a farmer and businessman, earlier this year announced he had located 20 of the planes, best known for helping the Royal Air Force win mastery of the skies during the Battle of Britain.

On Thursday, however, a retired Myanmar geology professor who has assisted in the recovery operation since 1999 said there are about 140 Spitfires buried in various places around the Southeast Asian country, which until 1948 was a British colony called Burma. He did not explain the discrepancy in estimates.

Soe Thein said the British brought crates of Spitfires to Myanmar in the closing stages of the war, but never used them when the Japanese gave up the fight in 1945. The single-seat version of the fighter plane was 9.14 meters (30 feet) long with an 11.3 meter (37 foot) wingspan.

The U.S. Army was in charge of burying the planes after British forces decided to dispose of them that way, he said, adding Cundall interviewed at least 1,000 war veterans, mostly American, to gather information about the aircraft's fate.

He said a ground search was started in 1999 using magnetometers and ground radar, but faced difficulties. Only in recent years did technology become advanced enough to be more certain of the finds, he said.

Each plane was kept in a crate about 12.2 meters (40 feet) long, 3.4 meters (11 feet) high and 2.7 meters (9 feet) wide, said Soe Thein.

The plans under a two-year contract are to recover 60 planes in the first phase: 36 planes in Mingaladon, near Yangon's current air base and international airport; 18 in Myitkyina in Kachin state in the north; and six in Meikthila in central Myanmar. Others are to be recovered in a second phase.

The Myanmar government will get one plane for display at a museum, as well as half of the remaining total. DJC, a private company headed by Cundall, will get 30 percent of the total and the Myanmar partner company, Shwe Taung Paw, 20 percent.

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Stovepipe

that's assuming that the alleged aircraft are anything other than compressed beer cans by now. they would not be remotely fit for flight and it would take several years to rebuild one, if even one was fit to donate parts for a rebuild.There won't be any "flood" of Spitfires.

regards
Stovepipe

marcsignal

Stovepipe wrote: »

that's assuming that the alleged aircraft are anything other than compressed beer cans by now

No, according to the article, they were buried in wooden crates...

Each plane was kept in a crate about 12.2 meters (40 feet) long, 3.4 meters (11 feet) high and 2.7 meters (9 feet) wide, said Soe Thein.

..at least that's what I took from it. It certainly wouldn't seem to be worth the effort at all if they weren't.

Manic Moran

I'm pretty much in the loop in that expedition. They're in about as good a condition as one could expect. They were found some time ago, they did a bit of drilling and sent a fibre-optic camera down.

marcsignal

Sounds brilliant MM

Judging by the dimensions of the crates in the article, I guess the wings were removed first, and stacked in separately, right ?

Probably the worlds biggest collective time capsule Can't wait to see pics when they release them.

Manic Moran

Pretty much.

Expect another mention on the matter this weekend, in the Sunday Telegraph.

marcsignal

Looks like there are a few Brewester Buffalo's, Hurricane's and Lockheed Lightnings down there too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiD3loHd1qY

bluecode

That video is completely unrelated. It appears to show fighters being uncrated mostly in the Middle East by the looks of it. There is even of a shot Spitfires in Soviet markings. The shots of the Hurricanes on the back of trucks are of downed aircraft recovered from the desert in North Africa. On a point of trivia. The RAF supplied the Air Corps with a truck and 'Queen Mary' trailer like that so they recover crashed RAF aircraft and hand them back across the border.

I look forward to seeing some real shots of the Burma Spitfires!

marcsignal

Well, judging by the comments posted on YT, you certainly seem to be right about that vid. By all accounts, none of the images are related to the Burma spits. The War History Online site had even posted it believing it to be relevant. Pity, it would have been amazing if all the aircraft featured were part of this bizarre time capsule, but it looks like we're talking about 30 Spitfires, and only Spitfires, max, according to the BBC.

The Geophysics looks impressive tho



BBC interview.

The only other image I've come across that claims to be related the actual aircraft in question is the one below, posted in The Telegraph and The Times.




Digging starts in January.

marcsignal

Seems there are more Spits buried under a retail park and a pub in Birmingham

Manic Moran

The video did not come from one of the official sources, either Cundall or Wargaming. I'm pretty well looped into the expedition, if and when anything actually is found, I will be one of the first to know.